Another Chapter To The Rest Of Our Lives
by Emily Meminger
Summary: Liesel and Rudy have been married since 1948 and have been living in Australia since. / Also I don't know how, but I some how managed to accidentally delete this story. AARRGGH. Sorry about that, make sure you follow and favourite again. *ON HOLD* While I write Don't leave Me - A prequel to this story.
1. Family

**Chapter 1 Here I introduce you to their children 26/05/14**

**Each of the boys were born on the 18/02/1952**

**Today is the 22nd of February, another leap year for the Olympics.**

"Rudy, they look just like you" Liesel said while cradling one of her two twin boys.

"But they have your eyes." Rudy replied with tears welling up in his eyes. After some silence he said his famous line "How about a kiss Saumench?" He bowed his head in level of hers and gave her a peck on the nose. "Are you ready to go home now?" His tears then went away.

"...hmm?" "I said are you ready to go home now?" Rudy looked at Liesel while rocking the other child. A look of concern came across his face. "What is it, what's wrong? Have I said something?

"Nein, it's just- I was..." She started. Rudy saw the emptiness and tears beginning to form in her eyes. "It just came to me how mama and papa would have reacted..." There was silence as Rudy closed his eyes and looked down trying not to cry. "Oh Rudy, I miss them!" That set her off and the child in her arms at only four days old began to look scared.

Rudy tried to take his mind off it before he lost it too. He hated to see her upset. "Liesel, let's go home."

**Author's Note**

**Hello! I hope you liked. If you have any ideas for me to add, feel free to suggest. Please check my profile to know about me and what my interests are.**

**And no I will not abandon the story I will**** update it the best I can.**


	2. Their Names

**Chapter 2 Their Names**

**23/02/1952**

"It's probably time we decided on names for the boys." Rudy brought up on a summers morning. "Ja." Liesel mumbled half asleep. "Maybe they'll leave us alone longer if we gave them each a name." "Shut up Saukerl, I'm tired."

That's when crying came from across the room broke the silence. "Rudy... I don't want to." "They're telling us it's time for breakfast." "Ja, I know." Liesel struggled out of bed forcing her eyelids to stay open against the light coming through the curtains. Rudy got up too and slid open the curtains blinding the two of them. Liesel went over to the cots and lifted up the boy with small tuffs of golden lemon hair on the top of his head.

Liesel sat down in her chair holding a warm bottle of milk and held it up to the small infant's lips. "He reminds me of my brother... Unsure of making decisions." She said as she tried to get the boy to eat. "Maybe that's his name then, hey Saumensch?" "Werner... Werner." She whispered to no one in particular, trying to see if the name suits him. "Werner... Steiner. Werner Steiner." She repeated. "I heard you the first time Saumensch." "Shut up Dummkopf. What about his middle name?" "We took this long to find a name for either of them and you already want to get started on a second name." "Okay then, you find a name for our other boy then." She grinned as she placed Werner back and got up to pick up 'the hyper one'

"We could do Hans?" Rudy suggested. "And how's it fair on you? Don't you want to name him after a brother of yours? Why not your father?" Liesel made a point. "I suggested it. I like Hans anyway. We can safe my father's name as a middle name."

"Werner Alex Steiner..." Liesel said. "Hans Alex Steiner." She tried. "How does Alex Hans Steiner work for you?" "It suits him, I like it." He tried the name on his lips. "Alex Hans Steiner."

"I've always liked the name Markus." Rudy brought up. "Hans Markus Steiner." "And what about your father?" Liesel questioned. "Save that name for our next child." Rudy replied with a toothless grin. "In your dreams. And even if we did have another, what if it was a girl?" "I'd name her Liesel after the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes on." She looked into his eyes and laughed. "How about a kiss Saumensch?" He tried. "You can stick your kiss."

They soon chose on

Werner Alex Steiner and  
Hans Markus Steiner


	3. Liesel's Diary

**Chapter 3 Liesel's Diary 28/02/1952**

"Happy Birthday Liesel!" Rudy announced that mid-to late morning. He bent over to give her a kiss and Liesel smiled to herself. Today Liesel was turning 24. Werner and Markus were just ten days old.

Liesel went to get up but Rudy came across to stop her. "No! I want to make you breakfast, wait here." "Well can I at least feed Werner and Hans?" "No-ah, yes. Just don't leave the room." He replied fast enough to only just understand him. He slowly backed out the door from Liesel who had an amused look on her face. She laughed as he shut the door before walking out. "Oof!" Rudy yelped before falling to the ground.

"Shut up Dummkopf, you'll wake them!" She exclaimed in a whisper. "Ja, my sunshine." This time he left carefully, only for Liesel to hear him trip on the last few steps on the stairs. She giggled uncontrollably and then sat with Markus on her lap. "I can't wait to move out of this flat, it's too small for twins." She said to herself.

After Liesel lay down on the ground on the warm carpet with the twins by her side. She chuckled at the sight of them holding hands. She got up and opened the window to the scent of burning... Seconds later and the fire alarm went off. She hurriedly picked the twins up, left them in a small enclosure gate thing (Sorry don't know the name!) and rushed down to the kitchen. "What did you do?!" "You're not meant to come down Saumensch!" Rudy cried. "Well if you heard the alarm and smelt smoke, you would do the same." Liesel giggled. "Alright Saumensch." He grinned. "Now back upstairs!" Before Liesel left, she took a glance at the sink and saw burnt eggs and bacon. She giggled. "Alright! I know, now upstairs."

"Happy Birthday Liesel! How about that kiss?" "Where my present then?" "Bossy" He muttered. "I heard that!" He just smiled in return. It's on your desk, where it belongs."

In the study, Liesel took a look and began to cry. "I'm sorry Liesel, don't you want it?" He'd bought her a typewriter. Liesel never asked for one, because she knew they couldn't afford one. "No, I've always wanted one." She sat down to see how it worked. "The paper goes this end." Rudy instructed. "And you press the letters to print." "Rudy, how did you afford this? It must have cost you a fortune!" "For now it's a secret, I promise to tell you tomorrow." "Thank you Rudy. Oh, go get my diary; I could make it into a book to get it published!" "I've always wanted to write a book."

"Also, go feed the boys, you know where everything is." "Ja, I'm glad you like it."

**Please leave a review, I love to read them! Please tell me what you think and give me some ideas to improve it. Next chapter will be about them moving some place bigger and finding work (I'll try make it longer too.) **


	4. Max Babysits

**Chapter 4 Babysitting gone wrong 29/05/14**

**18/12/1955**

"Are you sure?" Liesel questioned. "Yes!" Max exclaimed. "You can?" "Yes!" "They're a pain sometimes." "I know, they're bad enough just me visiting." "So you can handle it then?" Rudy tried. "Shut up, yes!" Max proclaimed.

"Okay then, and don't feed them any sweets, they'll never fall asleep!" "Yes mother." Max joked. Liesel and Rudy laughed along with it. "And do you know how to put them to bed?" Rudy asked. "Yes, grab them by the ankle and give them a good spanking!" "And we didn't even have to tell you and you're already doing a perfect job." Liesel said.

Liesel and Rudy bid their goodbye to Max and left in their car to go to a meeting to have 'The Book Thief' published. "I'm only watching to twin boys, what could possibly go wrong?" Max thought to himself.

Max examined the two. "How about one of you wear something different and then I can tell the two of you apart?" The two boys stood side by side and shook their heads. "That means yes." Max tried to convince them. "NO!" They exclaimed in sync. "Then how, the hell am I supposed to tell you apart? Which one's Markus?" Both the children raised their hand and giggled. "Your hair looks like feathers." One said. But who? Max couldn't tell any difference in them. They wore the same clothes, and never separated. "Who told you that?" Any information out of them would do for Max, especially if it kept them out of trouble. "Mama did." Said the other. Thing one and thing two, easy enough. Both 'things' had their fathers yellow hair, the colour of lemons and their mothers dark eyes you'd sometimes mistaken for chocolate rather than blue. They also had their mothers' cheekiness and their fathers' determination.

"How about we play a game?" Max suggested. "I tired." Thing one said as he lay on the carpet. "We wanna sleep!" Thing two said lying next to his brother. "Okay then, have a rest and I'll be in the guest room. I'll come in and check on you." Max warned. He bent down, and picked each 'thing' up by the ankle as he always did, and carried them up stairs watching their lemon hair stick up and giggle at the sight of each other being upside down.

He dropped the two on their beds, then thing two yelled. "That's my bed!" He pointed to where thing one was staring at Max waiting for him to swap them over. "Okay thing two." The boys giggled. He swapped the two over and took a glance around the room.

Liesel and Rudy had them sleeping on desk beds. They had such a small room; it only had a desk bed for each of the boys, a wardrobe they shared and a large bookcase taking up half the wall. It was loaded with books. On their desks, the sat toys on the back shelves and had colour in books and a box for their pencils and crayons. He looked up and saw letters and words written in chalk across the wall high up for Hans and Werner to look at and add words as they lay in bed.

Max tucked them in from the ladder, climbed down and left the room after shutting the curtains to leave the soft sunlight out.

What Max didn't know, is the boys had a plan. They weren't really tired, they had some mischief to do.

**Before continuing, take a moment to think what will happen and then review me what you thought would happen. I'll use your ideas for another chapter!**

**Okay, on with the story!**

Max walked around the house taking a look at every picture on the wall as he did so. The Steiner family only had a small house; they didn't have a lot of money after moving to Australia. The kitchen, dining area and living area was all one room. The home only had one bathroom and two bedrooms. Max was left to sleep on the couch that night.

He walked along the hallway starting from the top of the stairs and made his way down. There weren't many photos of Rudy and Liesel growing up, as they had been lost in the bombing. But still, their wall filled up as time filled up and their family grew. Rudy had a friend, who was great at art. He payed him a shilling to sketch a copy of Hans and Rosa Hubermann from a recovered photo. That was on the wall too. They had a sketch of Liesel's past brother Werner, but much larger in size.

BANG!

Max jumped and bolted up the stairs. He entered their room, they weren't there. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what have they done now?" He checked Liesel and Rudy's room. Still nowhere to be seen, not even in the wardrobe, not in the cupboard and not even under the bed.

He checked the next and last room upstairs. Liesel had told him not to go in there. "Hans, Werner?" Thing one, nor thing two replied. Max held his breath and entered the room, slowly as if he was hiding from Rosa with a wooden spoon ready to belt him with. His heart jumped as he saw one child, when he'd slowly opened the door enough for his head to fit through. He took a step in and saw the second child... With a typewriter laying on its side and pages with writing spread on the ground and on the table.

"Ah, Oh." The boys said. Max took them by the wrist and led them out, closing the door behind him. He knelt down to gather the pages. There must have been hundreds. Max panicked, and tried to sort them. This was going to take forever.

Before he continued, he went back out quickly before the boys did anything else. He led them to their room leaving them each some water and locked the door behind him. Then he went back to sort each page into order.

As he went through, checking the numbers, he found the typewriter on its side under where the papers had landed. He picked it up and put it back into place on the desk. He saw some of the words and worked out it was for Liesel's book, 'The Book Thief'. He felt relived he had all the pages; she has been working on that book for nearly four years. He cried at some of the words, remembering their days in Germany and the horrible time.

Finally, he left the room with 20 minutes to spare before bath time and bed. He walked in Hans and Werner's room happy to see them seated at their desks below their beds and colouring in the batman books.

"Come on, it's dinner time. It's getting late." Max spoke quiet, with tears full of memories, hiding waiting to drop from his big sad eyes. "We're sorry uncle Max." This time Max could tell that 'Thing One' was Werner. "I know, but you'll have to apologise to Mama and Papa too, both of you."

**Is what they did what you expected? Let me know!**

After dinner, Max lead them back upstairs. "Where's Mama?" Hans brought up in a thick German accent. They had yet to become Australian. "Ok then, come here." Max sat on the ground and lent against the wardrobe by the door. "You know those papers you knocked down that Mama's been working on?" "Ja." They replied not sounding as if they were still sad with what they did. They all found it amusing now. "Mama has been writing a story, about when she was growing up. Mama and Papa are going to see if they can have it made into a book for many copies to be made for people to read."

"Why?" Hans asked. "She wants people to remember those times and she doesn't want to forget either. She wants people to know what they went through in that time and what it was like for her." "What did happen?" Werner asked. "Ask your mother, I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you yet- but I'll tell you what someone did. There was a bad guy; his name was the Führer, or better known as Hitler." "Was he as bad as the Joker?" Hans asked. Max laughed at that. "Well the Joker is mad isn't he? Well Hitler, was a coward. He put everyone in danger and forced people to fight in a war. Many people died. You were forced to do as he said, or be killed. Your parents nearly died once, and it was all because of the war. All of your Mama and Papa's family died, that's why you don't have grandparents. Your Papa doesn't even know if his father survived."

The boys looked at him, sad. They wanted to know more. "Well, it's getting late, quick bath and bed." Max finished

"What are you eating?" Max asked the boys as they ran into their room. Max held his hands out and said. "Spit it out." The boys turned and spat out a rich chocolate toffee. "It looks like sshhh- I mean- ahh- Is this toffee, you shouldn't be having toffee!" He threw it in the bin and wiped his hands with a cloth remembering to wash his hands. "What were you going to say Max?" They asked. "Nothing." "Yes you went sshhh-." Hans retorted.

"Okay! Goodnight, go brush your teeth again and don't leave your rooms when you get settled without calling for me, Ja?" "Ja Max." They replied running to get their teeth done.

What do you think? I hope you liked. I got this idea from my friend Hanne (timelordwannabe) when she suggested having the boys in kindygarden and having them get into mischief. How do you like that idea? Let me know! BTW: Hanne's name is pronounced Hannah, it's Dutch okay? Yea, she'd want me to point that out.

Also I know I promised a chapter of Liesel and Rudy talking about moving and all that, but I ran out of time so that will be chapter 5.

Thank you for all the reviews and please check out my friend timelordwannabe if you like Doctor Who or mortal instruments! BYE -Emily


	5. A little AnnouncementIt's Time We Move

**Part 1: A little announcement Part 2: It's time we move **

**Part 1 19/12/1955**

Liesel and Rudy had just returned home. Liesel was now waiting for a letter confirming that she could have the book published.

"Could you handle it?" Liesel started uncontrollably giggling and then set Rudy off. "Yes! Thank you. I'm glad you have so much faith in me." "Where are they?" "Upstairs. Bye!" "You're hiding something!" Rudy stated. "They're your kids, go and question them. "Bye Max." Liesel replied.

"What have they done?" "I don't know, but we are going to have to sit the boys down." Rudy said.

Liesel and Rudy found them in the study, already sitting down on a large, old armchair. "What did you do?" Liesel asked the boys before swapping places with Werner and seating him on her lap. Rudy did the same to Hans. "We tricked Max." Werner said innocently with a hidden cheeky grin beginning to appear. "And how did you trick him?" Rudy wanted to laugh at how firm Liesel was being, but knew he'd get a spanking out of it; so instead he tried to hold it in.

"We went to bed pretending to be tired, and then..." Hans went quiet. "Then what?" Rudy joined. "We went into mummy's room." Werner mumbled looking down. Rudy hadn't heard him say mummy before. They've been listening to other kids. "Then?" Liesel urged. "Don't even try, I know there's more." "We knocked your papers and the black heavy thing." Hans started. "Max spent all night sorting them again." Werner told quietly looking over at the stack of crippled pages and the old typewriter.

"Well I'm glad you told me, and you should be glad I don't like to spank children. Now stay in your room and you can come out when lunch is ready. The boys leaped of her lap and scooted off across the hall to their bedroom.

Rudy began to laugh, he couldn't hold in any longer. Liesel took the nearest book on the small table beside the chair, and took her best hit against his shoulder. "Saumensch!" They stared and laughed. Rudy leaned for kiss when a scream stopped them. "NO!" The boys yelled in sync. "That's disgusting!" Hans cried. "I thought your mother told you to stay in your rooms!" Rudy yelled. Liesel looked at her lap and laughed to herself. "Ja and we didn't listen." Werner stated. "Boys, do you want to have a little brother or sister?" "No, we'll go to our rooms instead." The two ran back to the rooms.

Rudy looked over at Liesel. "I never thought you'd tell them like that." Rudy smiled. "Well they're staying in their rooms." Liesel added.

**Part 2: It's we move 23/12/1955**

"Three crazy children in the house and a forth on its way, don't you think we should move?" Liesel stated. "Three children?" "Yes; Hans, Werner and you." She replied casually while chopping half a dozen carrots amongst other vegetables. "Ha, ha; very funny Saumensch!" Liesel chuckled at that.

"And where do you propose we get the money from?" Rudy asked. "Well we're still waiting for that letter." "And what if it says no?" "Then we'll work something out; besides, if you get that training job, that'll help." Rudy had gone for a job to be a Police Officer in charge of horses. Liesel was sure Jesse Owens would get it.

While Liesel waited for the vegetables to boil, she walked to the post office with Werner to check for the letter saying yes that she'd been longing for. "Werner, check 939 to see if there's any letters." Liesel commanded handing the small boy a key. Werner bent down to search for no.939 further down the wall while Liesel went to the desk to have a parcel sent to Rudy's Papa in Luxembourg, just in time for his birthday and a very late Christmas present.

Werner came back with a bulky letter and a postcard (Probably from Alex Steiner). As the two left and walked along the streets, Werner handed Liesel the post. "Here, you can look at that one." Liesel handed him back the postcard that had the picture of a lion statue with Big Ben standing tall in the back. Werner couldn't read very well, but even if he could he'd need great ability to work out his progressing English and his handwriting.

"What does the letter say Mama?" Werner looked up at her, looking curious. "I don't know yet, wait till we get home."

At home Liesel gave Rudy the letter. "Could you put it on my bed please, I have to finish dinner." "Can I help?" Werner asked. "Ja." She made a quick reply. She pulled out a stool for him to stand on. She gave him the job of stirring the chicken in the pan till it cooked. "Stand back, it's hot." Liesel instructed as she poured hot water from the kettle. Werner then stood back up onto the stool. Werner held his hand above the pan, about half a rulers distance away. "I'm going to burn myself." He teased, smiling. "Are you really?" Liesel acted shocked. "Nope! That would hurt Mama." The timer for the water to heat up rang after 5 minutes. "It's ready!" Werner exclaimed. "Yes, you can add the bowl of carrots and broccoli."

Sitting at the table Rudy asked as her tried to force food down Hans' throat. "How do you get them to eat?" "I find if you get them involved in the cooking, they'll eat it. Anyway, Hans is like you; stubborn." "Oi, Saumensch." Liesel giggled. When she came back to reality, she walked over to Markus to get him to eat. "Just try it first Hans." She tried getting frustrated. "Werner and I have spent a lot of time making it." "Ja, try it Hans! It's yummy!" Werner shouted. Liesel and Rudy laughed at his enthusiasm. "Yummy!" Hans yelled back trying the chicken together with a piece of carrot.

After dinner Rudy stayed in the bathroom to have the boys washed. Liesel went into her study upstairs and began to read the letter. Rudy left the boys in their room to change, promising to come back in five minutes. He walked in to see Liesel curled up on the old armchair, crying silent tears; bursting out some quiet sobs. "What is it Liesel? Did they say no? Is it about Papa?" He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed holding her as tight as Willy Wonka's special golden ticket.

"No, it's not your Papa. But he did sent you a postcard from London." Rudy almost ignored her after saying it wasn't his Papa that was wrong. "Then what is it?" "I-I got it..." "What?" "I said I got it; they said yes Rudy." Rudy looked down at her and gave her a peck on the forehead as did Harry to the golden snitch, as did the Doctor to the victory of his companion.

"I'm proud of you Liesel." He said as he allowed her to stand. He stood to and embraced her in a tight hug. "We can finally move out of this tiny home." Liesel stated.

Rudy then walked down to the boys' room with Liesel close behind. "Boys, do you want to live in a big house, and have a room filled of toys?" Liesel beamed at the sight of all the excitement filling the room leaving butterflies in your stomach and a tickle of the tongue. "Ja!" They both screamed. "I a violin too?" Werner asked. "And me too?" Markus jumped euphoria pumping through his veins.

**The next morning 24/12/1955 Christmas Eve**

That early morning, you would not find the boys in their high up beds, but in their parents' bed, sandwiched in the middle.  
When the sun shined through in to the tight space, Rudy and Hans quietly left leaving Werner and Liesel to sleep.

The thoughts going through Rudy's mind were, my wife is having another baby, Christmas had come and his father was staying over and Liesel was going to live her dream. Write.  
Then he just realised his first two thoughts. His Papa and the baby. They had yet to tell him.

Rudy left Markus downstairs and watched Liesel and Werner sleep huddled, and warm.

"Papa! It's snowing!" You might be thinking 'It doesn't snow in Australia!' Well lucky for the Steiner's, living in Victoria brought them white fluffy snow. Another thing 'It's SUMMER at Christmas time!' Not in this town. It's the coldest place in Australia, snow comes by at different times, and they have quite some strange weather.

"Wait for your mother to wake up, and don't disturb her." He said looking over at Hans with his warm face pressed up against the icy window. "But it'll melt." "It will come back."

It was 11:30, and Liesel was still a sleep. Werner was now up, so Rudy took them outside to play in the snow while it lasted for its short period of time.  
Rudy's Papa finally arrived in a taxi by lunch time, just as the snow had stopped and had already been beginning to melt away.

Opa. Grandpa.  
Opa bought gifts for the boy and they were sat on the floor of the lounge to open them, and play. Rudy took this as his chance to tell him.  
"Papa?" "Ja?" "How much did Mama sleep before she had me?" "A long time, like a log. Warum? Why?" Rudy looked at him with a proud grin. "Oh, du und Liesel! Herzlichen Glückwunsch!"

Liesel woke up around lunch time, not knowing Opa was here yet. "Feeling better Liesel?" Alex asked. Liesel just stared; shocked. "Rudy told me, it better be a girl." He said turning around to face the children. Liesel walked down from the stairs and walked to the kitchen for bread. "Where's Rudy?" "He said he was going to start cleaning up for Christmas. Also he just left to buy a tree." Liesel took two pieces of bread and walked to her room to shower and change.

"Papa, is Liesel awake yet?" Rudy asked coming in. "Ja, don't know if she went back to sleep though or not." "How much sleep does she need, she wasn't this bad with the boys." "I wouldn't worry. Do you need help with the tree?" "Ja."

"Liesel!" Rudy yelled as he spotted her coming downstairs dressed in a coat and hat. "Are you alright?" "Ja, I'm fine." "Where are you going?" "Estate agent, it's just down the street." "Will you be ok on your own?" "Ja Rudy!" She left with slight annoyance at his worry.  
"She's fine Rudy, stop worrying and give the girl some space." Alex Said.

That evening, Liesel came home at 4. "Liesel, come have some soup! You haven't eaten yet today." Rudy called from the kitchen. "Yes Mudder." Rudy gave her a nudge as she walked past; leaving her a smile.

"Did you put the house up for sale?" Rudy whispered to keep it secret from his father for now. "Ja, we have to be out by the first of February."

"Why? Are you getting kicked out?" Alex looked worried for his 'children'.  
**Author's Note: Hey, I made this one nice and long for you. The next chapter, I'll have the night of Christmas and I'd like your ideas to tell me what should happen on Christmas morning. Tell me what you like and what to avoid, it helps to hear from you. I hope you enjoyed. **

**I got some ideas from a day of the SHAYTARDS '3 year old cooks dinner!' Rocktard is adorable, he melts my heart. Tell me if you want more of that too.**

**Thank you 'Maddi and Rudy Steiner' For your support!**

**-Emily**


	6. Christmas morning

**Chapter 6 Christmas Morning 25/12/1955**

"Mama! Papa!" The boys screamed together, jumping up and down on the bed. "It's Christmas morning!" Hans cried. "Five minutes." Liesel groaned. Rudy turned over to face her and smiled. "Like that will happen." He said. "Hurry up Mama!" Werner said with a pout.  
"Alright, alright!" Liesel sat up against the headboard. "Come on, well wake up your grandpa." Liesel got up and lifted Werner from the floor. Rudy took hold of Hans and walked downstairs to wake Alex from under the heap of blankets. He had an old mattress and had ownership of a quiet spot near the fireplace by the tree. "Opa!" Hans yelled loud enough to wake the whole street.  
Hans wriggled out of Rudy's grasp and made a run to force Alex out of bed.

"Nur, es ist Weihnachten!" Hurry, it's Christmas! Hans cheered.

Opening their presents, Hans gasped with the same twinkle in his eye, as did Liesel's second Papa. Her heart broke to remember him. "What did you get?" Liesel tried to concentrate back to reality. "Batman suit! Can I put it on?" Hans had his father's pleading grin. "Ja, get your Papa to help." Liesel had heard of 'Batman' but wasn't very familiar to him.  
Werner smiled for his brother and looked down at the box in his lap. He'd been longing for a box of pins along with a map and pencils. Liesel watched Werner closely after Rudy had left the room along with Hans. She was still waiting for Alex's return from the bakery.  
"Go on." Liesel urged the boy. She moved over and sat next to him by the tree. Werner looked up at her looking unsure. "What's wrong?" Liesel was concerned. Werner looked down into his lap and picked up the box. He held it to his ear and gave it a shake. The box was a standard size of a novel, neatly covered in red paper and a green bow to complement it. The quiet noise of small blocks made of wood, clinging together stayed in his memory telling him what it might be.

"Here" Liesel lifted the small boy with yellow hair, just a few shades lighter than her caramel locks, but not quite light enough to have the Steiner lemon hair. She put her arms around him, looking over his shoulder to see. She lightly tugged the pine green ribbon and used her other hand to slowly remove the lid. Liesel turned her head to see Werner's. He moved his small hand to move back some folded paper, to reveal a smaller box, and a row of pencils. He took the box and opened it. "Pins." The boy stated. Liesel seemed confused. Werner had never told her what her really wanted. He put the lid back on the box and found a small reel of string. Liesel took the paper and unfolded it. It revealed a large map covering the world. "Yay! Saint Niklas got me my map!" The whole time, Rudy had been spying on the two. Liesel noticed when she heard him cackling. Rudy walked over to the tree and looked at the stairs. Liesel and Werner looked up, following his gaze. "Batman?" Rudy called. Hans came running down the stairs, wearing Batman's signature cape and mask, along with the logo on his chest. "Look mama!"

Liesel laughed at his pride. There was a knock at the door. "That's probably your father." Rudy walked to the door to let him in. Liesel stayed on the floor with Werner and Hans. She listened in to hear their conversation.  
"Hallo Max!" She heard Rudy. Liesel smiled and watched as Rudy returned from the hall with Max and an armful of presents.

"Merry Christmas!" Max announced as he settled their presents to the ground in front of the tree. "Happy Hanukah." Liesel replied, helping Werner to stand. Hans gave Max's legs a hug and sprinted to the tree to retrieve his present. "Which is mine?" He asked, eyeing the four presents.  
"The blue one, with snowflakes." Max sat down next to Liesel and Rudy sat by the short stack of gifts to help Hans and Werner. Hans sat and peeled back the paper. "Danke." "What'd you get?" Liesel asked. "A trampoline!" Hans tried to lift it, but it was too heavy. "Are you going to let Werner use it?" Liesel asked. It better be yes. "Ja."

"Open yours now Werner." Max said. Werner knelt up on his knees and took hold of his present. He took away the paper and felt his heart race. "Is this a sled?" "Ja and you can ride it on sand as well as snow!" Max started to lift the heavy toy out the box for Werner to examine. "Danke! Ich liebe es!" Werner jumped on Max and just about strangled him. Hans joined in to. "I feel like my eyes are going to pop out." He stated. Liesel and Rudy just sat laughing at the sight.

**I hope you liked and sorry it was short! I've been really busy with being in senior year. I'll update very shortly to make up for it and then I'll try to keep a schedule.**

**Thank you! -Emily**


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